NBA awards: Not many clear-cut choices this year

There are some interesting and challenging choices for NBA awards voters this season.

Last season things were more clear-cut, with Kevin Garnett finally getting the nod at Most Valuable Player and Hubie Brown a sentimental winner for Coach of the Year.

There was a mild dose of controversy over the Rookie of the Year choice, but only from vocal folks in Denver, who seemed to think Carmelo Anthony deserved it over LeBron James.

Most of the other choices were pretty easy to call, too.

This year, on the other hand, there figure to be a lot of close calls. Here's some predictions:

MVP

Who should win: Tough call. Shaquille O'Neal is going to get a lot of deserved support, because he completely turned around Miami's fortunes, turning them into the best team into the East. But Steve Nash has done the same thing in the West for a Phoenix team that was awful last season. Both teams have struggled when their MVP candidates have missed games. The winner: O'Neal. O'Neal has Dwyane Wade, but after that, who? Nash has Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion and Quentin Richardson. They are both worthy, but O'Neal has done more with less.

Who will win: Nash. He'll get the "Aw, he's never won it before" votes, which should be enough to offset the Eastern-bias votes.

Worth mentioning: LeBron James, Cleveland. Some of the usual contenders dropped out, Tim Duncan via injury and Kevin Garnett via team underachievement. Dirk Nowitzki gets overlooked but probably shouldn't. Allen Iverson won't get overlooked but should.

COACH OF THE YEAR

Who should win: The vote is going to get spread all over the place. Rick Carlisle has done a great job keeping the Pacers in it despite numerous injuries and suspensions. Eddie Jordan has the Wizards playing their best ball in years. In his second stint as an NBA head guy, Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni has done a solid job. Scott Skiles has gotten the dysfunctional Bulls to stick together and make the playoffs. The winner: Nate McMillan, Seattle. Unlike all of the teams above, McMillan's squad is essentially the same bunch of guys that missed the playoffs last season. McMillan must have done something right.

Who will win: Skiles. Hey, he's in Chicago, and the Bulls have gotten a lot more press than the Sonics.